Eye-catching new burger restaurant on Maize Road — Sickies Garage — has an opening date

Last summer, Wichita learned that the vacant Logan’s Roadhouse building at 2424 N. Maize Road would get a new burger tenant: Sickies Garage Burgers & Brews, a concept based in North Dakota that specializes in “extreme burger creations” and craft beer.

Then, the building just... sat there for months, with nothing much happening until construction started late last year.

Suddenly, though, a bright new Sickies Garage sign has appeared, making many westsiders wonder when the restaurant will open.

Now, there’s an answer: April 15 — less than a month away, said a source with the restaurant’s management. Wichita’s Sickies is still in the process of hiring its staff and is looking for bartenders, cooks, dishwashers, hosts, servers and more. (Apply at https://bit.ly/3V59FZe).

Sickies was started in Fargo, North Dakota, in 2012 by a group of guys that would get together to work on their motorcycles and cars. Eventually, they started making burgers at their meetings, with the members always one-upping each other with new levels of burger insanity.

The group adopted the term “sickie,” which is often used to describe a person who calls into sick work to hang out at a bar. The menu features 50 half-pound signature burgers paired with 50 different beers, and many of the burgers have some pretty unusual toppings, including the Twin Cam, which is topped with peppered bacon and nacho cheese and uses two grilled cheese sandwiches for buns. Customers also can get a macaroni and cheese burger and a “Hangover Burger,” which is served on a glazed doughnut bun.

Lots of less-crazy burgers also are available, as are Kobe beef and veggie burgers. The restaurant also offers wings, chicken sandwiches and a long list of appetizers, from fried pickles to nachos to fried green beans, and customers also can order malts and shakes — including boozy shakes for adults. If you want to peruse the menu while you wait for opening day, it’s at sickiesburgers.com/menu/

The social media pages for Wichita’s Sickies Garage are up and running, and on Facebook, the restaurant shared a sneak peek inside the restaurant. The photo shows a full-size, rusted-out old pickup truck hanging upside down from the restaurant’s ceilings and lots of memorabilia, including license plates and road signs, covering the walls.

Sickies has 12 restaurants across the country, and in addition to the Wichita location, it’s also putting one in a former Red Robin building at 7111 W. 95th St. in Overland Park. That restaurant will open in May.